Pierce: Houston hovered over the Grammy Awards (video)

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The Grammys opened on Sunday with a prayer for and tribute to Whitney Houston.

It was tasteful. It was heartfelt. It was all that was necessary.

"There is no way around this," host LL Cool J told the crowd in the Staples Center and TV viewers after an opening number by Bruce Springsteen. "We've had a death in our family. So at least for me, the only thing that feels right is to begin with a prayer for a woman that we loved."

At which point he bowed his head and prayed for Houston, who died Saturday of (as of this writing) undetermined causes.

"Although she is gone too soon, we remain truly blessed by her musical spirit," LL Cool J said. And then producers played a clip of Houston singing "I Will Always Love You" from a past Grammy show.

That wasn't the end of it. Houston was featured in the, ahem, death montage later in the show. And Jennifer Hudson followed that with her own rendition of "I Will Always Love You."

But the Whitney worship didn't get out of hand.

LL Cool J may have gotten the gig because the Grammys were on CBS and he's a CBS star ("NCIS: Los Angeles"). He was, believe it or not, the first Grammy host since 2005.

And he pretty much disappeared after the brief opening. But he did what he had to do.

The Grammys have a built-in advantage over the Oscars, the Emmys and even the Tonys. They're far more entertaining because, while you can't show viewers an entire movie, TV program or Broadway show, you can show them song after song.

And, as always, the awards took a back seat to the performances at the Grammys.

Seeing Glen Campbell perform with The Band Perry and Blake Shelton as McCartney danced in the audience was worth the price of admission.

As was Adele demonstrating that her voice is back. And accepting her awards.

Not everything worked, of course. Fewer weak Beach Boys covers by Maroon Five and Foster the People, more actual Beach Boys, please.

Following Hudson's stunning performance with a second appearance by Chris Brown was a misstep. (Apparently, he's now completely forgiven for beating up Rihanna, who also performed.) And Nicki Minaj's bizarre production number left viewers going, "What was that?"

Whatever it was, it was bad.

As is the case with most awards show, the biggest problem with the Grammys was that they refused to end. Three-and-a-half hours was ridiculous.

Cut the big speech by the head of the academy, kill the Minaj bit and you could be out of there in three hours, tops.

Scott D. Pierce's column appears Mondays and Fridays in The Mix. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com.

Share This Article

USER COMMENTS

Reader comments on sltrib.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Salt Lake Tribune. We will delete comments containing obscenities, personal attacks and inappropriate or offensive remarks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. If you see an objectionable comment, please alert us by clicking the arrow on the upper right side of the comment and selecting "Flag comment as inappropriate". If you've recently registered with Disqus or aren't seeing your comments immediately, you may need to verify your email address. To do so, visit disqus.com/account. See more about comments here.